United States v. De La Cruz-Feliciano

786 F.3d 78, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 7902, 2015 WL 2223138
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedMay 13, 2015
Docket13-1593, 13-1601
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 786 F.3d 78 (United States v. De La Cruz-Feliciano) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. De La Cruz-Feliciano, 786 F.3d 78, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 7902, 2015 WL 2223138 (1st Cir. 2015).

Opinion

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

Junior H. De La Cruz-Feliciano (“De La Cruz”) and Sandri Rijo were charged with, and convicted of, conspiring to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms of cocaine and aiding and abetting others to do the same. They now appeal their convictions, alleging various procedural and evidentiary errors. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgments of the district court.

I

BACKGROUND

This case involves a conspiracy to smuggle over 900 kilograms of cocaine into Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico. Eduardo Ubiera and Juan Baltazar orchestrated the operation. They recruited Francisco “Sandy” Navarro-Reyes (“Navarro”) and Gary Bri-to-González (“Brito”) to transport the cocaine, via a motorboat, from a “mother ship” at sea to Puerto Rico. The operation, however, did not run smoothly. While at sea, Navarro and Brito ran out of fuel and were unable to make it back to shore. At that point, according to government witnesses, Mr. De La Cruz was recruited to take another craft out to rendezvous with and refuel the stranded motorboat.

Mr. De La Cruz successfully delivered the fuel to the stranded motorboat. While still at sea, however, his own-craft developed mechanical problems. Stranded at sea, Mr. De La Cruz and another individual aboard the vessel used a satellite phone to call for help. According to Freddy Alta-gracia-Medina (“Altagracia”), a codefen-dant, Mr. De La Cruz had requested the satellite phone before departing in order to communicate with the stranded motorboat. The United States Coast Guard found Mr. De La Cruz’s vessel adrift approximately sixty miles from shore and rescued its crew. Coast Guard agents questioned the men about their satellite phone. According to Agent Christopher David Xirau, the men claimed to have tossed the phone overboard because it had become wet.

Meanwhile, traveling in their refueled motorboat, Navarro and Brito reached the shore with the drugs on January 26, 2012, three days after the planned delivery date. Awaiting their arrival were several individuals recruited to help unload the motorboat. Mr. Rijo was among this group. According to government witnesses, he originally planned to serve only as a lookout; ' however, due to the motorboat’s late arrival, he instead ended up helping to unload the cocaine from the motorboat into a Nissan Armada for transport to San Juan.

Following a tip from a confidential informant, law enforcement anticipated the January 26 delivery and were surveilling the area throughout the night. They observed several individuals unloading the drugs from the motorboat into a vehicle, but were unable to visually identify any of those involved in the operation. Two other vehicles were present at the scene. Of- *83 fleers stopped the motorboat and three vehicles as they departed the beach. Ubi-era and two other individuals were stopped in the Nissan Armada. Officers found over 900 kilograms' of cocaine and three firearms in the vehicle. Navarro, Brito, and two other individuals were stopped in a second vehicle. Baltazar, Mr. Rijo, and one other person were stopped in a third vehicle. Three individuals were stopped in the motorboat. All thirteen men were arrested immediately. Officers arrested Mr. De La Cruz six days later.

On February 1, 2012, a grand jury returned an indictment, charging Mr. Rijo, Mr. De La Cruz, and their twelve codefen-dants with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(l)(A)(ii), and 846, and aiding and abetting the same, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(l)(A)(ii) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. 1 Everyone except Mr. Rijo and Mr. De La Cruz accepted plea agreements. After a trial, the jury found both Mr. Rijo and Mr. De La Cruz guilty as to all charges. 2 After sentencing, the defendants timely appealed. 3

II

DISCUSSION

A. Mr. De La Cruz

On appeal, Mr. De La Cruz raises only one argument. It concerns the district court’s questioning of Agent Xirau of the United States Coast Guard. At trial, the agent testified about the rescue of Mr. De La Cruz aboard the vessel that had gone adrift. Agent Xirau stated that he had asked Mr. De La Cruz and the other individual aboard the vessel about the satellite phone that they had used to call the Coast Guard. During the agent’s testimony, on the fourth day of a six-day trial, the following exchange took place:

THE GOVERNMENT: I will ask you to clarify, when you refer to one of the two individuals on the boat, what specifically as to each individual they said, if anything?
AGENT XIRAU: Roger that.
THE GOVERNMENT: I was asking you about Junior De la Cruz, if upon you questioning him did he answer anything to you?
AGENT XIRAU: That was the only ■question that I remember him specifically giving me an answer.
THE GOVERNMENT: What about the other individual?
AGENT XIRAU: I don’t remember his name. When I say they, I could mean either one or the other, I don’t remember who at time who was the one that gave answers to the several questions we asked.
THE COURT: But were questions generally answered?
AGENT XIRAU: Yes, ma’am.
THE COURT: Any of them express a disagreement with what the other was saying at the time?
AGENT XIRAU: No, ma’am [ 4 ]

Defense counsel objected to the district court’s questioning. In particular, counsel asserted that the questions conveyed that *84 the district court was commenting on Mr. De La Cruz’s silence when speaking with Coast Guard officials. The district court disagreed, stating that the witness “is not saying that [Mr. De La' Cruz] did not answer, he says he does not remember who answered what.” 5 Nevertheless, despite its disagreement with defense counsel’s characterization of the exchange, the district court gave a cautionary instruction, stating that the jury was “not to draw any inferences from the questions that [the court] posed.” 6 “My only intent here,” the district court explained, “was to assist in clarifying the situation. But once again I instruct you that there is no intent and ... no inference [should be] drawn from any type of question I have posed.” 7

Following the district court’s cautionary instruction, Agent Xirau then testified that Mr.

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786 F.3d 78, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 7902, 2015 WL 2223138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-de-la-cruz-feliciano-ca1-2015.